XIE MEIHUI

BASIC INTRODUCTION

Wife of Jia Xu. Their bond is completely non-romantic, and in fact, their marriage came to be because she is and was one of his spies, and a good one at that. With her father seeking a marriage for her and close to settling on a choice, Jia Xu offered to take her as his own wife in order for her to remain his spy... a decision both for his benefit and hers, as she very much enjoyed her job and some of the freedom it offered. As they were basically friends anyway, she agreed, and this led to her being able to do her job all the better.

Her public persona is of a gregarious, cheerful but somewhat airheaded 'party wife,' which is only a partial mask. Xie Meihui is perceptive and has a very dry, occasionally dark sense of humour, taking almost too much pleasure in the deceptive side of her work sometimes.

She has a few different guises she uses depending on need, most notably as the rough, domineering but charming leader of a low-key 'mercenary band' of sorts that specialises in stealth work and exists for multiple reasons... but the big one, perhaps, being that it can and likely will one day be very useful as cover for her should she ever get caught out elsewhere. She would tell her fellow spies and husband the most important reason is that she can meet and seduce beautiful women. It's certainly a welcome benefit.

DETAILS AND HISTORY

Backstory:
Xie Meihui was born a third child but eldest daughter to a relatively ambitious Lord, and thus, right from the start, was expected to one day marry someone who could help further that ambition. This did not bother her when very young, but as she grew more aware of the world, of her own intelligence, and developed a rather sly yet social personality, Meihui was driven to start... 'tweaking' the world around her to her liking.

This was a initially a futile endeavour in many ways, and her first attempts at manipulating the others in her household did not go well, but over time the youngster would develop a talent for what she was doing and got better at identifying when and how to make her move. This was how, despite being the first daughter, she was not the first daughter to be married off. Her sister expressed a fondness for the son of the man their father wished to win over through a match and Meihui, in what she would always afterwards think of her first true 'spy operation,' set about ensuring that said son met her sister as often as possible and doing everything she could do to ensure otherwise that they would end up together. And it worked, without Meihui herself getting implicated and forever bearing the gratitude of her sister.

Thus began several years of Meihui getting better and better at manipulation, deception, and generally just being really good at befriending other people, initially in the service of ensuring she only married someone she liked when she was ready, but soon enough just because she enjoyed it. 'Unfortunately' for her, however, this was still long before she became truly good at spywork and thus her efforts did not go unnoticed. This would have gotten her into trouble she was unprepared for eventually, but luck was with her, because one of those who 'noticed' her games was a man named Jia Xu.

And Jia Xu had no interest getting her in trouble. Instead, he was more interested in taking on a promising prospect for himself.

Initially being very distrustful (and, if she was honest, scared of what he might do) when he approached her with a knowing smile one day while she was out enjoying her own company in the local markets, it did not take Meihui many more encounters to realise that she actually rather liked this brazen, suspicious and all-too-clever man. This especially became the case when he revealed that he had no intention of harming her and instead wanted to offer her two things that made her heart skip a beat - a job doing spywork, and all the training and knowledge she'd need to get much, MUCH better at what he she'd need to do for it. The mere thought thrilled her more than she could say, and thus, a friendship and a productive work relationship began.

There was one remaining problem, however, which reared its head two years after she took Jia Xu up on his offer. Despite everything, she could not put off the prospect of marriage forever with her father so fiercely determined to find her a match despite the 'strange' obstacles, and with her distracted by her secret work he managed to find someone interested and willing with the kind of political power he liked. Irritated and concerned at the situation, she turned to her boss, who casually and without any kind of concern offered to solve the problem by marrying her himself. He had yet to take a wife and saw the benefit of wedding his own friend and spy, and for her part, Meihui could not have been more delighted at what this would mean for her own life. Immediately agreeing, Meihui then watched with delight as Jia Xu effectively dismantled his 'love rival' as a prospect and won over her father himself with an incredibly beneficial offer.

Leaving her family home soon thereafter, Meihui's life was to change forever, as she stepped into a grand, exciting kind of 'game' and followed her now husband ever deeper into the growing chaos of their land.


Story paths:
For Xie Meihui, her general, normal story would eventually lead to her being caught out and, as implied in her basic introduction above, having to sacrifice her life within the heart of Wei and at the side of Jia Xu and their children. Following this she would fully take on the mercenary band leader identity full-time, and while (in most scenarios) still doing her best to send on useful intel to her husband, otherwise start an entirely new life seperate from what she once was.

The exact whos, hows, whys and explanations involved in this vary depending on whatever time point I choose to have this happen and who is involved in catching her out.

There's a few alternate/hypothetical paths for her as well. Her fate in the 'DW8 Wei Hypothetical' would be quite uneventful, enabling her to remain as Jia Xu's spy for a good long while before getting to retire, see her children become successful adults and maybe find a quiet romance to enjoy. None too exciting. More exciting would be a full-blown AU in which she deliberately gets herself caught by Liu Bei's forces as a 'hostage' and tries to use this to pull off a dangerous, easily messed-up plot of Jia Xu's that could very easily see her meet her end... as she says herself before setting off, if that happens, well, she agreed to do it. Sometimes the thrill of a spygame is all the reward she needs.


Appearance:
The 'images' section at the bottom currently contains screenshots from the designs I created for her in DW9: Empires. This accurately captures her face and hair, but her costumes are less certain due to Empires limitations in that department. But they work well enough.

Her key features are her shapely nose and sprinkling of freckles. Meihui's build is what you might lanky; she is reasonably tall and thin with long limbs and a short torso. There's something of an awkwardness in her movements, and she herself would say she isn't a very graceful person, but how much of this is put on to make her seem unthreatening and how much is genuine is a bit of a mystery.


Exploratory fanfic:

- X (No warnings needed, X words)

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS

• JIA XU; her husband, boss and friend, with whom she clicks naturally. There are no romantic feelings in their marriage but it works out for the both of them rather well.


• HER SONS; her children with Jia Xu are named Jia Mu, Jia Ji and Ji Fang. Meihui is not the most maternal of people, and is not especially distressed by the fact her work means she has to wander often and can't always be around for them, but nonetheless loves her sons and with Jia Xu has done her best to ensure they are raised by the right people when their parents aren't there and have at least an interesting future ahead.


• XUN YOU; being fully aware of Jia Xu's fondness for him, Xie Meihui makes an effort to connect with Xun You, offering a gentler teasing to compensate for the more 'absolute terror' behaviour of her husband.


• GUO JIA; a friendly relationship with some element of fun competition, on occasion, when they're both attracted to the same person.


• MA DAI; in some routes their respective 'shady activities' have caused them to meet. Usually they become very suspicious of one another and have had to work to meet their goals while also working to fend off the other's efforts. He is something of a rival to Meihui in the games they both play, but neither is fully aware of the other's true identity (most of the time).

MISCELLANEOUS

• Not a battlefield warrior, but fully capable of fighting one-on-one if needs be. More stealthy approaches suit her better if matters lead to that.


• As such, she generally carries a small but sharp knife around on her person, hidden away, but is prepared to explain it away as 'something her silly husband insists she carry' if it ever gets uncovered.


• While finding some men attractive, and quite happy to have friends-with-benefits fun with her husband in order to produce heirs, Xie Meihui tends to be much more drawn in by women and this has, on occasion, been a distraction for her. One particular occasion nearly blowing an important political marriage and risking her own safety as well as that of several other spies within her network lost her the loyalty of several of them and is one of the few times Jia Xu has ever become exasperated with her.


• Has three sons with Jia Xu. She insisted after the third birth that this was enough pregnancies for her, more than enough to ensure their line would continue, and Jia Xu agreed that was fine.


• Ensuring the futures of her sons has included multiple instances of some more subtle spycraft purely for their benefit. She is never, ever above using her talents for reasons other than the goals of Lord Cao Cao, if she feels it's justified. Or helps out her lovely sons. Or husband. Or friends. Or lover(s).


• Her mercenary persona is known by those who have hired her as effective and particularly good at social operations, but 'rather rough around the edges' and known for seducing women (including married ones). Jia Xu has theorised that, while it IS one of her 'masks,' at least some of her behaviour while wearing it is a way for Xie Meihui to vent out things she usually has to box up.


• Other personas? Wouldn't that be ruining the mystery? ♥

IMAGES

Dynasty Warriors 9 Screens:
On her own: Page 1 + Page 2 * On her own as 'mercenary leader:' Page 1

Art Commissions:
Currently none!